Chapter 2000: Unknowable Truth 7

Heartbeat reverberates.

Lin An let out a long breath, his reason warning him for the second time to leave this place.

Yet his body felt as if fixed to the chair; his soul and thoughts yearned to know the final answer.

Having thought intensely about Andre's information all along, he no longer doubted whether Andre's words were true or false, or whether he was just being mysterious.

The truth was truly just a thin pane of glass away. Like a child standing beneath the grand doors of a temple, Lin An could already see through the crack the magnificent billion rays of light inside.

Sitting opposite, Andre waited calmly as always, as if he too were merely an ant that had glimpsed reality, now only wanting to relay what he had seen to Lin An bit by bit.

"Shall we lay a mat?"

"You say..."

Soon, Lin An raised his head, his voice hoarse as he looked at Andre.

As his words fell, Andre smiled slightly and gave a small nod:

"You really are the same kind of person as me."

"Yeah... even though I know some truths are unknowable, perhaps utterly cruel, I still stubbornly want to know."

Andre looked at Lin An with considerable appreciation, as if gazing at another version of himself.

"Just as you guessed."

"The mission information in Ghost Skull is indeed much less, and indeed all of it is hidden outside that circle."

"However, you misunderstand me on some matters; I hid this information not to stop you from completing the mission, but for your own good."

While speaking, Andre let out a rare sigh:

"The mission has changed; if it were before the change, knowing that information wouldn't matter, but after the change, once you know that information and combine it, no one can leave alive."

"Cognition has been contaminated and twisted, or rather, the cognition here has mutated into an existence that even the system wants to eradicate."

"Hum"

Andre extended his right hand and gave a light wave.

The space they occupied instantly shifted, becoming the top floor of the hospital Lin An had visited.

"Let's first speak of the information hidden in the Research Institute, namely the phantom limb."

The operating room was icy cold; Lin An instinctively glanced around. At this moment, the two seemed to have traveled back to a certain point in time, where between them stood three researchers surrounding a man.

"Lin An, don't you think memes lack subjective agency, that they still have no self-awareness?"

"Even if they did, it would merely be a mimetic reaction relying on life's manifestation."

"On that point... I don't intend to refute you."

Unexpectedly, before Lin An could withdraw his gaze, he suddenly froze.

Only to see Andre suddenly wave his right hand, and the scene instantly began to move.

As if they were time-space observers, the time between them began to flow.

Inside the electromagnetically shielded operating room, on the icy operating table,

A middle-aged man with electrodes covering his head continuously gulped, looking anxiously at the surrounding researchers; his right sleeve was empty, showing he had only half an arm.

And the three researchers standing beside him were now nervously watching the brainwave monitors on either side.

"Sir, please empty your mind as we require, and do not engage in extraneous thought."

"Once our orders are given, just follow them."

Having said that, the masked researcher turned solemnly to look at the recorder behind him, speaking word by word:

"Pay attention to record the brainwave signals; we need to locate the brain region corresponding to his right hand."

"Please begin imagining lifting your right hand."

"No, not the arm, but the amputated palm portion."

"Can you do it? Can you control the finger portion?"

"Yes, imagine using your right hand to grasp this apple; can you do it?"

"Just move your right index finger a little; a simple slight movement will do."

"You say you can't? After focusing, instead you feel no phantom limb sensation?"

"Assistant, help me block his view; we'll start over."

"The brain is very precise; we want to help this patient find the neural area corresponding to his fingers, which requires repeated testing. Otherwise, if too many nerves are cut, it could likely affect his physiological functions."

"Mm, it looks like the effect is not bad."

"It's amazing; there really is a brainwave response. What's the principle? Are residual nerve synapses reacting to the outside world?"

The scene sped up, and the data was soon fully recorded.

Holding a thick stack of brainwave activity charts, the chief researcher in charge of testing looked satisfied at the data recorded by himself and his team.

Without first checking the data, the chief researcher, smiling, helped the patient up from the operating table and confidently comforted him:

"Rest assured; once we compare the data, we'll soon be able to perform the nerve-blocking surgery on you. As long as we cut the nerves corresponding to the phantom limb area, you will no longer feel any phantom sensations."

"You want to know the principle? Well... the principle here is complex, but simply put, after a limb is missing, to prevent secondary infection we amputate; likewise, the brain also needs to have a part removed, otherwise it will suffer adverse effects."

"It's like dismantling something; if not taken apart cleanly, it's..."

"Professor! The data is wrong!"

Before the chief researcher could finish, a voice of astonishment, even shock, suddenly interrupted him.

Seeing the other researchers checking the data, all of them flusteredly flipping through the computer numbers, two wave peaks nearly matched but differing by a hair's breadth, the waveform constantly flickered.

The chief researcher, called 'Professor', furrowed his brow, evidently displeased with his doctoral student's reaction.

But as he also hurried over and casually glanced a few times, he too instantly froze.

"They don't match... how could they not match!?"

The scene sped up again.

At this moment, the scene was indeed a vast underground structure.

Inside the freezing experiment hall, over hundreds of researchers simultaneously began recording test data on the experimental subject.

Half an hour later, as the experimental data of over a hundred 'patients' were aggregated at the processing center, everyone in the data room looked ashen.

In the corner, a researcher stumbled to his feet, his whole body trembling as he stared at his own hands.

Unlike the military soldiers guarding this place, who could not make sense of these incomprehensible waveforms.

As a top-tier practitioner, his reason and cognition seemed to collapse in an instant.

A few seconds later, mad laughter and cries rose and fell; inside the lab, researchers either slumped to the ground or acted as if they had gone mad, shouting for him to flee.

"Fake! It's all fake!"

"How could this be! How could this be!!"

"Calm down! Quick! Control them!! Block the information, first seal off the news!"

The scarlet alarm light flashed.

As the gate of this underground research institute came crashing down, red light filled with screams and gunfire made it seem like they had fallen into hell.